Story: Before Hot Spots Were Wi-Fi

It is no secret that New Zealand is home to a vast amount of beautiful and diverse topography. Staggering cliffs, rugged mountains, endless fiords and secluded beaches are among the many breathtaking sights scattered throughout the adventurous countryside. But there is also an often overlooked aspect of the Kiwi’s diverse geography… the natural, unique features formed by the country’s geothermal hotspots.

The most wondrous examples of New Zealand’s geothermal activity can be found in area called Waiotapu, which is a Maori word for “Scared Waters.” This region, located just outside of Rotorua, is about a three hour drive south of Auckland and is home to a beautifully diverse landscape of cavernous craters and colorful pools formed by hydro thermal eruptions that took places hundreds of years ago.

When entering Thermal Wonderland, smells of sulfur invite you into the land that time forgot. A world where it is easy to forget about city cement and remember that rocks were here first. But while the land maybe seemingly at a stand still, don’t be fooled. The land is completely alive.

Air rises up in bubbles out of pools of green, orange and yellow. Steam congregates in corners of hot pools before dispersing out in a great gust, cloaking the surrounding area in an eerie, dreamy thick fog. While walking through the 3 km path of the park, you can literally feel the land living and breathing all around you.

The Champagne Pool is one of the area’s most exquisite sights. The stunning orange rim bordering the side of the pool is a reaction to years of deposits of metalloid compounds that have saturated the surrounding rock. Look but don’t touch, the surface temperate of the water is a toasty 160 to 165 degrees, and the water deeper down in the crater can reach a blazing 500 degrees.

Next to the Champagne Pool lies the Artist’s Palette. A Picasso plate of colors and hues seldom seen in nature. Mineral elements like Silica, Sulphus, and Iron Oxide are responsible for the vast spectrum of colors. Throughout time, as the minerals were absorbed by the hot water, the pool was shaded and infused with bold, vibrant yellows, reds and greens creating a natural rainbow canvas.

All of this beauty, along with the rest of Waiotapu’s craters, mud pools and geysers, is thanks to volcanic activity that took place almost 160,000 years ago and a few fractures in the earth’s crust. The combination of these cracks and the pressure of the tectonic plates force the earth’s heat to escape into some of the most beautiful birthmarks on this vast and diverse planet.